Mk3 setup now in place. Looks much more tidy I have to say. Just been for a good blast around the countryside with a mate to check the smoking. I can confirm it is literally on gear changes at high revs, not all of the time having seen it from a following behind. It doesn't smoke constantly on power, just a fairly large plume at higher rev gear changes which lingers for a few seconds and clears. Idle seems clean. New breather system doesn't seem to have made a difference smoke wise but at least that can be ruled out. It's definitely not down on power. To be honest I'm leaning more towards it being a piston ring issue however I'm still hung up on this good compression result I haven't been able to see the head builder however after a discussion with him, he recalled everything going back together tightly during the rebuild and as it should. I'm pretty stumped to be honest and I appreciate the help I've had. Not really sure on next steps. What do people think - is it worth stripping the whole thing down again and sourcing another block?
Does look much tidier with the proper setup rather than the pikey one before Had a few spare mins today so had another look. I took the back pipe off of the PCV - get a bit of vapour steam and a few spits but certainly not much and not a lot of pressure. Took the inlet boot off and found it full of oil. Guessing this isn't normal: Actual inlet wasn't too bad.
Fair enough, thanks RJ. I cleaned it all out so will keep an eye however... A new development from last night... Was driving home reasonably enthusiastically but nothing particularly heavy. Came down to a junction and the low oil pressure light started flashing around idle which went out again as soon as I put a little throttle down. Came off of the roundabout and switched off immediately. Low oil pressure also backed up by the VDO registering low. Let it cool down, checked the levels and still half way up the dipstick (was at just below max around 50 miles back). Started it back up, no light and all was well. Nursed it the half mile home. Started it up today and no light, compression still great, however it's now knocking above 2000 rpm. Sounds like it's coming from the head but I could be wrong. Put bluntly it's f*cked .
Not exactly a "symphony in smoothness". [:^(] Remind me, have you checked the oil pick-up gauze in the sump? Sounds top-end to me too, which might be the lesser of various evils. Trouble is, the oil pressure switch in the head (assuming it's the same/similar as my (brown, 056 919 081C) driver one) is rated at a nominal 0.3 bar. On the backside of the switch it says 0.15 - 0.45 bar; suggesting a rather wide manufacturing tolerance, with 0.3 being the average. If you happened to have a lowish one, say 0.2 bar actuating, that's only about 3psi of oil pressure to make it 'happy' (and the other one on the filter housing doesn't generate any warnings below 2k rpm) . That's not so much a 'oil pressure problem' warning as a 'got another engine kicking about?' enquiry.
Not since the rebuild - cleaned the pick up pipe then and it's had 2 oil changes since. I haven't had the sump off again though since. Would you be able to hazard a guess at would would be knocking in the top end? One of the valves again maybe? The actual sender in the head at the mo isn't the original PB one - it's now an Audi VDO one marked 0-5 bar, 0.3 + 0.15 bar. The light doesn't stay on now but obviously I've taken it off of the road to stop anymore damage (luckily I was close to home when the problems started). Only comes on at idle but the knocking noise is after 2k rpm. Never a dull day with a mk2
If you'd knakcered a valve it would be missing, and it dosnt sound like the hydraulic valve followers from what i can hear. I had put a KR into my mk2 not long ago, was coming home from Bristol across the 2nd severn bridge approaching the tolls when as i put my foot on the clutch to take it out of gear as i got very close the oil light flashed afew times and the engine seized. Result: all the big ends were blown cos the oil pressure dropped. Or so the AA man said.
Ouch Well it hasn't seized although I'm not driving it for obvious reasons. I guess I'll find out what's happened when I strip it down.
Ridiculously long thread revival but I think this may have been a slight issue lol Cracked shell. Now gone to the scrapheap in the sky.
